


Mr Stark

by Stark_63



Series: Mr Stark & Agent Romanoff [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-07 08:45:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19205911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stark_63/pseuds/Stark_63
Summary: A different version of Nat and Tony’s relationship across the MCU films, starting with Iron Man 2 and ending with Avengers Endgame.





	1. Will That Be All Mr Stark?

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a one shot from Iron Man 2, but as I was writing I had Civil War on in the background and felt it had the potential to develop into a proper story. There’s going to be heartbreak and romance across the story in relation to various MCU events.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A different version of Nat and Tony’s relationship across the MCU, starting with Iron Man 2 and finishing with Avengers Endgame

“Mr Stark?” Tony’s lips curled into a small smirk as he recognised the sweet sounding voice calling his name. “Sorry what did you ask me, Miss Rushman,” Tony replied, turning to face his new PA who was stood across the room from him with a bottle of his chlorophyll drink. He looked her up and down as she stood there; she wore a plain black pencil skirt and white blouse- Standard business wear Stark mused- which she accessorised with a solid silver necklace shaped like an arrow. The redhead crossed the room, stopping inches from Tony, as she handed over the bottle. “I asked how your injuries were....you were involved in a car crash and an intense fight with a crazed Russian today.” Tony laughed lightly as he took a long gulp of his drink, still unsure if it was actually counteracting his symptoms or not, “Well, I’m alive for now. Don’t worry about me Natalie,” Tony said with a small smile. Natalie smiled sadly as she placed her hand on his shoulder, “But I am worried about you Mr Stark... There’s something wrong with you that you’re keeping to yourself. Which is totally your choice of course, I just mean that you don’t have to bottle it up; maybe other people can help you.” Stark felt his heartbeat accelerate as his PA’s hand went from his shoulder to his cheek, softly caressing his it before she turned to leave his room. “If you need anything else, I’ll be right next door, Mr Stark,” she stated before leaving him alone. He sighed as he flopped down into an armchair and looked out of the hotel window. He couldn’t keep his mind off the redhead woman no matter how hard he tried. “Goddamnit.”  
     

      Natalie closed her bedroom door, sat down and sighed heavily, placing her head in her hands. She’d screwed up. Big time. ‘Goddamnit you were supposed to monitor Stark and keep him from doing anything stupid; not do the stupid things yourself Romanoff’ she mentally yelled at herself. With a groan she stood and went to look out of her hotel room window. She’d never fallen for anyone since starting her new life- and had certainly never fallen for one of her assignments before- but Stark? He was different. Nat related to him in some weird ways that she found hard to explain. They both tried to do what was best in life; both struggled so hard to be accepted by those around them. Nat’s list could go on but she didn’t have the mental strength to continue distressing herself like she was. Besides, Tony had Pepper right? Nat was pretty sure they had a relationship-or at least the beginnings of one- going on. Good, that was good; they were well suited to each other. She wished they weren’t. In an attempt to try and clear her mind, Nat changed out of her designer work clothes and into her pyjamas. After removing her makeup and cleaning her teeth, she retired to bed and attempted to get some sleep after an exhausting day. “Hey Rushman....are you awake in there?” Tony asked as he knocked her door gently. Tiredly, Nat approached her door and opened it widely, looking her boss up and down. He looked tired, exhausted even; his hair was disheveled and his night clothes did very little to hide the bruises and cuts littering his body. “Something I can do for you Mr Stark?” She asked sweetly, giving him a sexy smile as she invited him in. He sat on the edge of her bed, as he tried to formulate a response. “Yes....maybe, I’m not sure. I just can’t sleep and needed someone to talk to,” he admitted quietly as Nat softly sat down alongside him. “What about Miss Potts? Would you not feel more comfortable talking to her?” Tony only laughed a bitter laugh, “She told Happy not to let me near her for the rest of the trip after the attack on the track today,” Tony stated as he ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Nat’s heart broke slightly for the billionaire; she slowly placed her hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “I’m sorry to hear that Mr Stark...if there’s anything I can do to help you just let me know. Anything.” Tony’s eyes locked with Nat’s, “I just need a friend,” he whispered. “You’ve got one right here,” Nat replied, taking his hand in her’s. As they began talking, the two future avengers found they had a great many shared interests- an application for modern art became an intense subject of debate. They talked together until the small hours of the night, both savouring each other’s company and the relaxed environment they found themselves in. Nat awoke the following morning feeling a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist. The smell of Tony’s cologne gently filled her nose as she recalled last night. Tony hadn’t wanted to be alone, and- much to her surprise- he had no interest in sex with her last night, he was true to his word about just wanting a friend. They’d retired to bed at around 3am contently lying together as they drifted into a peaceful sleep. Nat frowned as she realised she was beginning to fall too far for Tony but was also making no attempt to stop herself from falling any further. She sighed as she settled back into his arms and fell back asleep.

_That evening_  
 

“Sir Miss Rushman is approaching I suggest you tell her about your deteriorating condition,” JARVIS stated as Tony watched Natalie enter the key code and open the door, smiling as she approached him. “Good evening Mr Stark, I’ve brought you your coffee,” she said as she set down a small cup of espresso. The two had hardly interacted since spending the night together and it was driving Tony crazy that he couldn’t figure out what was happening between them. “Hey Natalie....” he began, pausing for a moment to think up the rest of his sentence. “Look I’m just gonna come out and say it; I’m confused. I mean you’re great to me and everything but is that just because you’re paid to be or do you actually care about me? Sorry if this is all too sudden but I’ve spent my whole life wondering if people care about me because they choose to or because they’re paid to,” Tony admitted as he swallowed back his shot of coffee. Nat sat down along side him and took his hand in her own, “I care about you because I chose to care Tony. You mean a lot to me even though I’ve only known you a short time, and I’ll always look out for you.” Tony looked up at Nat, her green eyes meeting his dark brown ones with both of them noticing a mixture of lust and passion in each other’s eyes. “Miss Rushman....” Tony whispered as their lips inches closed to each other’s before they softly collided. As the pair’s lips slowly parted Nat smiled as her forehead rested against Tony’s. “Yes Mr Stark?” Tony’s breath hitched as tried to formulate a reply, “I....we....what does this mean for us? What are we now?” His PA merely smiled, “We’re whatever we want to be,” she replied softly. “I like the sound of that,” Tony replied as he leaned in for a second kiss, their lips meeting in the middle as Nat’s hands laced together with Tony’s.


	2. You’re fired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Nat share a moment before Tony’s party, at which everything takes a turn for the worse, causing their relationship to be shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve rewatched the scenes in this chapter like five times just to match them up closely. Now I’ve changed some parts here (mainly just one word for dramatic effect) and there just to suit the story better and I’ve omitted dialogue that wasn’t key to the scene, otherwise this chapter would be huge. Enjoy

“Do you know what watch you’d like to wear tonight Mr Stark?” Tony buttoned up his shirt hastily, making sure that Natalie couldn’t see his rash from the palladium poisoning. He turned to face her, as she handed him a cocktail glass. “Is that dirty enough for you?” She asked suggestively with a smirk causing the billionaire to blush a little as he looked away from her flirtatious eyes. “Uh gold face, brown band....the Jäger,” he said quietly as he walked over to his couch, cocktail in hand. Natalie handed him the watch and began to apply small amounts of concealer to his bruised and cut face. “Can I ask you a question, hypothetically, bit odd... If this was the last birthday party you were ever gonna have, how would spend it?” Natalie looked at him affectionately, “I’d do whatever I wanted to do; with whoever I wanted to do it with,” she replied simply as she kissed his cheek softly. Tony stood and slowly placed his hands on Nat’s hips as she looked up at him. “I should cancel the party shouldn’t I?” Nat’s own hands rested on his shoulder and arm respectively, “Probably” she replied. “It’s ill-timed? Sends he wrong message,” Stark stated quietly, “I’ll cancel it, maybe me and you can just spend it together instead,” he trailed off. Natalie smiled as she cupped his cheek, “There’s nothing I’d like more, truly, but your guests are already waiting for you to appear downstairs Tony.....I guess it’s too late to cancel now,” she said sadly. “You’re right, thanks Natalie, you always seem to know what to say,” Nat laughed lightly as she pulled Tony in for a delicate kiss. “Enjoy your party Mr Stark,” she said as she left, giving him a few final moments to ready himself for the party.  
“You know the question I get asked the most is ‘Tony how’d you go to the bathroom in the suit?’ The answer is...... just like that,” Tony slurred as his guests cheered him on. For the first time in her life, Nat was stunned into silence by the scene before her. Stark was drunk out of his mind and causing chaos. Thankfully, Pepper stepped in, “Hey Pepper Potts,” Tony began, slurring a lot, “You know I love you right?” Nat’s whole world stopped for a moment. What did he say? He loves her? Pepper laughed Tony off and began asking the guests to leave before Tony took the microphone back off of her. “She’s right the party’s over....but then the party was over for me like an hour ago. The after party starts in fifteen minutes!” He announced excitedly as he guests roared in applause. Feeling like a dejected moron, Nat went outside and sat alone sipping her vodka martini. She knew falling for Stark would end painfully....she just didn’t expect it to end so soon. Fed up of sitting outside alone being checked out by Tony’s guests, she made her way back inside to head for the front door. As she crossed the dance floor, she heard someone call her name, turning around she quickly saw an furious looking Pepper Potts. Wonderful, she thought. “Yes Miss Potts?” Pepper’s face only grew angrier, as she started pointing her finger in Nat’s face, “Oh don’t you Miss Potts me! I’m onto you I don’t know what you’re-“ but she was cut off by the floor caving in as Tony and an unknown man in the MKII armour burst through from the the gym below. Nat instinctively grabbed Pepper and threw herself over the other woman, shielding their bodies from flying pieces of marble flooring. Nat led Pepper out of the room before she returned to the ruined dance floor to help get people out of harm’s way. As she helped the last few people get out safely, she saw Tony slumped against the fireplace with Rhodey out cold against the bar in the MKII. Suddenly Tony looked up at her from behind the helmet. She looked back at him despondently, “Sorry for everything,” she muttered as she left the room, not noticing Tony pass out again. 

“Sir! I’m going to have to ask you to exit the donut!” Fury called up at Stark who had decided to eat his breakfast of coffee and donuts inside of the giant metal donut that sat atop the roof of Randy’s. Tony rolled his eyes at the one eyed super spy stood below him before accepting that he had to come down and see what Fury wanted if he wanted peace and quiet again. “Look I told you I don’t wanna join your super secret boy band,” Stark huffed as they sat in a booth inside the now deserted Randy’s. Fury and Stark bickered back and forth as Natasha watched from the door frame. After a few minutes she couldn’t stand it any longer and decided to interrupt, “We’ve secured the perimeter but I don’t think we should hold it too long,” she said nonchalantly as she walked over and put her hand on her hip. Despite the fact he was wearing sunglasses, Natasha saw the emotions fly through Tony’s head as clear as day. Shock. Hurt. Disappointment. Anger. Sadness. “Huh..... you’re fired,” he said weakly as he eyed her over the rim of his sunglasses. Unable to think of a smart-ass response and still clinging to some resentment for his declaration to Pepper last night, the redhead simply sat down, “That’s not up to you,” she replied quietly as Fury gave her arms a light squeeze and introduced her. Stark huffed in response to Fury’s glowing praise of Romanoff, “Honestly I think you should apologise,” he said with faint traces of venom lacing his words, causing Nat’s chest to tighten slightly. “What do you want from me?” Stark asked tiredly, bored of this conversation and still hurting from Nat’s deceit. Nat looked to Fury who took a deep breath before unleashing a fully fledged rant at Stark and his recent behaviour. Using this opportunity, Nat left the two men alone and headed back to the SHIELD truck for a shot of lithium dioxide. While Fury has told her that Stark was quite ill, he’d neglected to mention the fact that he was quite literally dying a slow and painful death. Despite the events of last night, this revelation weighed heavily on Natasha. She’d only known him a few weeks but already felt like she couldn’t bare to loose him. As she returned to the donut shop, she approached Stark and administered the shot, causing the billion to yelp in surprise. “Ah God....are you gonna steal my heart and sell it? Please; don’t do anything awful for five seconds,” Stark groaned out as Nat slide into the booth, stopping next to him. His words added further salt to her fresh emotional wounds. She’d stolen his heart, he said so himself, if only he knew he’d done the same to her. But it was too late for that now; he’d never trust her again as long as she lived.  
“Natasha will remain a floater agent at Stark Industries....with her cover intact,” Fury stated as he left Tony to speak to Coulson, who had just entered the room. “We’ve disabled all communications, no contact with the outside world. Good luck Tony,” Nat said, offering him a sincerely apologetic smile which he elected to ignore. She guessed he might never forgive her and to be honest with herself; Nat didn’t blame him.


	3. I’ll  see you around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Nat and Tony come to terms with their new feelings towards each other, Vanko puts his plan into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve changed some bits here and there again purely to accommodate Nat and Tony’s relationship, the main plot of Iron Man 2 is intact though.

“Are you....blending in well here, Natalie?” While externally she gave him a confused look, internally she wanted to tear his eyes out of his skull for his idiotic attempt at gaining a reaction from her. For a genius, he lacked all form of common sense. As Pepper and Happy left to prepare for their flight over to the Stark Expo sight in New York, Nat turned on Stark and gave him an expression of pure anger. “I’m surprised you can keep your mouth shut,” she said flatly through gritted teeth. “Well I guess we’re both disappointments hey Agent Romanoff? Besides you’re trained for this shit; it’s not my fault if you’re not very good at your super spy job,” Stark said, brushing off her concern as he plucked up a few strawberries from the box on Pepper’s desk and walked up to Nat, stopping a few inches from her face. “What do you want from me Tony?” Tony just looked at her as he chewed a strawberry, offering her one which she swatted out of his hand. “Nothing. Not anymore anyway; I mean, I thought you cared about me- you told me that you did after all and I thought we understood each other. But you lied. I don’t want anything from you. Don’t need anything. Never will again I need nothing from you Nat. Liar,” he said as he headed for the door. Nat swallowed hard and blinked to stop he tears falling, “Tony... Tony wait please,” she pleaded but Stark just slammed the door as he left in response. An emotional looking Nat sank into a chair and ran her hand through her hair as she started to fix her makeup and hide any signs of her inner sadness.  
As Tony drove home with all of his personal belongings from his old office, his mind was a battlefield of emotions. He was still seething with anger about being led on, lied to and then having his heart crushed all in the space of a few weeks. On the other hand however, there was a small part of his mind that begged him to think things through and consider things from Nat’s point of view. Unfortunately this part of his mind was drowned out by the anger, sadness and impending sense of death that had consumed him the past few days. He hadn’t fallen in love with her- not quite-but he certainly felt like things were going that way. Tony had never been in love before so wasn’t sure what it felt like but none of his one night stands had ever made him feel this way. He didn’t just want pleasure and physical contact from Nat; he wanted to make her laugh, spend time talking to her about anything and everything they could think of. He wanted to make her happy. He had done at least, now though? Tony Stark was pretty sure he’d avoid falling in love again, whatever it takes. 

“Where is he? Where’s Vanko?” As Tony approached the pathetic little man that was Justin Hammer, he felt oddly calm given his current situation. “What’re you doing here man? I thought you’d be busy,” Hammer answered weakly, quite clearly scared of Stark in his brand new Mark VI armour. Before Tony could respond however, Rhodey yelled out to warn Tony that his suit had been hacked. Not a second after Tony had taken to the air, Rhodey’s hacked suit as well as twenty or so Hammer drones opened fire on the Iron Avenger. As Tony flew upward through the glass dome the Hammer drones followed in pursuit, meanwhile on the ground, the remaining Hammer drones began to open fire on the civilians that had come to visit the Expo, causing Tony’s mind to focus on one single thing- Natasha. As he led the drones away from the civilians, he knew she’d be able to handle herself. “Take the wheel. I need to get to Hammer Industries right now,” Nat ordered Happy as she got into the back of the car. Happy groaned in response but quickly shut up when Nat suggested that she could drive herself instead. As Happy drove like a madman, Nat changed into her SHEILD suit trying hard to focus on her plan of attack for Hammer’s main base of operations. But part of her kept worrying about Tony unnecessarily. He could handle himself, even more so now that he had a new and improved arc reactor and suit of armour. Yet it was second nature to worry about those you cared about Nat surmised; and Tony Stark was one person she’d always care about.

“I rebooted his suit. You just got your best friend back, by the way I’m reading significantly higher vitals and energy output from the new reactor, well done,” Nat said casually over the comm channel but internally she couldn’t have been more pleased. “Yeah, thank you Agent Romanoff; for the time being I’m not dying,” Stark replied sounding somewhat uninterested, causing Nat to sigh. Nat could only watch the following events as she sat in the Hammer’s facility; Tony and Rhodey kicked ass she had to admit, particularly impressive was their method for defeating Vanko. One good thing did come from their fight at Tony’s party Nat thought ironically. The sound of doors being kicked open and men shouting alerted Nat to her backup finally arriving. As she and her team swept the facility for any more drones or items of interest, Tony sat alone on a rooftop overlooking what was left of his Expo centre. “You can always forgive her Tony; she was only doing her job,” Rhodey said from behind him. “You know what? One day I think I will, just not today Rhodey....not today.” Rhodey walked up to Tony, placing his hand on his shoulder. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Tony sat with Fury in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Hudson River. “Iron man: Yes. Tony Stark: No. This doesn’t make sense, how can she recommend me but not recommend me?” Fury smiled knowingly as he took the dossier back off of Tony. “We want you to act in an advisory capacity for now,” he said casually as Tony stood up chuckling. “You couldn’t afford me,” he replied, patting Fury’s shoulder. The spy merely laughed and headed towards the door leaving Tony looking at the various screens before him. “You know for a spy, you’re walking quite loudly, Agent Romanoff,” Stark said without turning round. “I just came to apologise. Properly this time.” Tony turned to face her, taking her hands in his. “Look, I get it alright. You’re a secret spy and I was your mission. It was part of the act so to speak, no hard feelings you were just doing your job alright. Maybe I’ll see you around next time the world’s in danger,” Stark said, kissing her cheek lightly and leaving the room before she had a chance to reply. “Yeah.....I’ll see you around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end of this story. I’ve started working on the next story in the series which will take place during the first Avengers film, so stay tuned for that soon. I’d also like to say thanks to everyone who’s left me super nice and encouraging comments on the story so far, you make me feel like it’s worth writing more! See you all soon.


End file.
